Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

The Bible speaks of many hidden things, many things we will not understand on this side of heaven, and our instructions for living today.

This is faith in action!

When God led his people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, all Moses had was God’s word leading him, one day at a time. If the pillar of cloud stayed put, so did the Israelites; if that morning the cloud began to move, it was time to pack up camp and follow.

Moses didn’t know two weeks out; he didn’t have a clue most of the time, and he did exactly what we all should do; he turned to the Lord for advice, counsel, and direction.

Moses trusted God with his life and the lives he was sent to deliver.

I am currently watching my husband and brother-in-law in action being sons. My mother-in-law has had a stroke, will be 89 in April, and has reached the stage where a bit of assistance is necessary.

I am a member of an organization with many elderly members. I marvel at their tenacity spirit and watch their struggles.

I have reached the golden years of my life, and as I stand on the threshold of becoming one of the elderly, I catch myself thinking about my future.

Do I allow myself to fear what might happen tomorrow? Do I fear not having enough one day to cover my needs? Do I let myself dread the slowness of mind and body that will one day invade me?

I have no assurance of tomorrow, but I do have today, and my walk on this side of heaven includes the Lord’s words to guide me as tho by my own pillar of cloud to follow.

I don’t know what my future holds…but I know who holds it!!! That is all I need to know to walk in peace and assurance that yes, I will one day face my elder years, but I won’t be facing them alone.

Be blessed today, and may you be a blessing to others. Thank you for joining me. 🥰

Have you ever noticed, and I’m sure you have, that when you are cranky, or life is challenging, works sucks, the kids are out of control, the spouse is on the last nerve, the walls are closing in, etc. That nothing positive seems to exist or comes out of your mouth?

These days or moments are when we need to be extra careful, as these are footholds for Satan. He delights in our anger and frustration. He loves when nothing but negativity comes out of our mouths, spewing our ugly on those unfortunate souls who live or work with us.

Matthew 12:34 NCV “Good people have good things in their hearts, and so they say good things. But evil people have evil in their hearts, so they say evil things.

Luke 6:34 NCV “Good people bring good things out of the good they have stored in their hearts. But evil people will bring evil things out of the evil they stored in their hearts. People will speak the things in their hearts.”

Proverbs 18:21 NCV “What you say can be life or death. Those who speak with care will be rewarded.”

Ephesians 4:29 NCV “When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need-words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you.”

Proverbs 15:7 NCV “Wise people use their words to spread knowledge but there is no knowledge in the words of a fool.”

These are just a few of the hundreds of verses that warn us about speaking positively rather than negatively. The building up rather then the tearing down! Life over death! The boomerang effect!

The Lord gives us plenty of warnings of the damage our words and thoughts can be if we don’t take control of them.

We can sit and stew and tell ourselves and anyone who will listen about all that’s wrong in our lives how hard it is, how it’s never going to change, one day leads to another, and nothing ever changes!

Maybe it’s because you aren’t changing! You aren’t changing your vocabulary, your thoughts, your haunts, or possibly associations. If you get up every morning and climb back on the pity pot, we’ll then there you will sit.

Possibly, just maybe, if you got up, opened your Bible or devotion, sat in the shining glory of the Son, worked on speaking positive life and concentrating on some of the right things in your life that the negative or destructive would seem to take a back seat.

We can always find something positive: fresh air, bombs aren’t exploding out our bedroom windows, freedom, family and friends, a meal, HOPE!

So, the next time you feel like verbalizing all that’s wrong in your life, try speaking out all that’s right! I have found that rose-colored glasses are much more comfortable and the view much softer.

Be blessed, be a blessing, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for joining me. 🥰

Does God seem far away right now?

Does it seem as though your prayers go out into the galaxy and are just floating out there in deep space?

Did you know that God is always with you, always watching over you, protecting you, guiding you, and preparing you?

James 4:8 NLT “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

Often it’s not God who is distant but us! We need to press in and do our part. We need to study what his word says, follow his instructions, and walk in his ways.

No topic in your life is not covered in the Bible. Along with that topic comes specific instructions for achievement.

Now comes your part! The part where we actively join in on our responsibilities: forgiving, believing, never waiving, hope, faith, seeking, getting involved, setting aside, putting away, stopping, starting, quitting, beginning you get the point.

It’s easy to throw a prayer God’s way and then sit back and wait for the anticipated results, but what if desired results don’t begin in the fashion we had in our minds?

What if it just doesn’t look or feel like what you envisioned? What if, along the path to your answer, it gets rocky and steep? What if it’s taking a lot longer than you anticipated?

What if it feels like God has forgotten your prayer?

He hasn’t, and I encourage you to find a quiet spot, take a drive or a walk, and pray to our Heavenly Father asking for peace, strength, wisdom, and direction. Then let your mind be quiet, let your spirit relax, take a deep breath, and slow down.

God hears our prayers. God loves us more than we can comprehend. Gods got this, and you, trust and let him!

I hope you find peace today. Thank you for joining me. 🥰

Good Morning Lord,

I thank you for my coffee.

I thank you for the many talented authors who share your word and thoughts behind those words with us.

Thank you to my pastor, who teaches your word in such a way; that’s so exciting, fresh, in-depth, and new. Not that he preaches your word in today’s new fashion, but how he ties the old and new together and supplies history and facts behind his teachings is like a dawning new adventure with you, Lord!

Thank you, Lord, for being in control! I watch the news. I listen to reports. I see the madness and chaos that’s infecting the world. I scoff at today’s agenda and do not relate to human beings now referring to themselves as; Straw, Ink, or It. I was born a female; I had the body parts of a girl upon entering this world. I was not born a ‘This,’ I will leave this world a girl, not a ‘That.’

Lord, I realize all this craziness that is happening today and tomorrow is because we are watching your end times being played out! Ezekiel 38…Magog is Russia…Gog, a chief prince who’s to rise from Turkey! Prophecy is alive right before our eyes.

Our times remind me of scripture in Matthew 24:38 NIV “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the Ark.”

Until the day Noah entered the Ark…everything was fine until it wasn’t.

The times are different, and significant events threaten to accelerate the changes your words warn us about. We are either with you or against you, and the truth must be proclaimed, so the lost are found, the dead in you have a chance at life. Please give us your warriors the power to withstand the days of battle.

Lord, I pray for ears to hear, eyes to see, and a mouth to speak. Please give me the strength and boldness to be your town crier!

Thank you for your direction, protection, provision, and wisdom. In your name Lord Jesus I pray. Amen 🙏

Be blessed today and thank you for joining me. 🥰

We the Israelites:

Have just experienced answered prayers by the mighty works of God in the way of deliverance from Egypt.

Have just witnessed a sight that is beyond sight as we walked through the Red Sea, on dry ground with walls of water on both sides, sea creatures staring at us in disbelief.

Have just left a gruesome sight as the Egyptian soldiers, their battle gear, chariots, and animals began to wash up on the shoreline.

Today we are on the third day of our journey out of oppression, depression, and suppression.

Exodus 15:22-25 NCV “Moses led the Israelites away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. They traveled for three days in the desert but found no water. Then they came to Marah, where there was water, but they could not drink it because it was bitter. The people grumbled to Moses and asked, ‘what will we drink?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When Moses threw the tree into the water, the water became good to drink.”

Exodus 15:25 NASB “He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the waters became sweet.”

A few takeaways here…

First, why are the Israelites grumbling? For the first fifteen verses of this chapter, they sing, praise, and worship their God. Jehovah the Lord is my deliverer. Jehovah Nissi the Lord is my banner.

He has just delivered them and fought for them, bringing them forward in victory, and the first obstacle they the Israelites encounter, they begin to grumble and complain!

Second, they ask Moses what are we to do? Well, doesn’t that seem obvious? To Moses, it is…We Pray!

Life’s waters are often bitter, so many times we have no idea how we are going to get through the raging currents. We only see the size of the waves that keep crashing down and forget about the one who can calm the storms.

Mark 4:39 ESV “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a calm.”

Instead of speed dialing everyone we know who will listen to our complaining, grumbling, and whining, our exclamations that we don’t know what we’re going to do! Maybe just maybe, we should try calling the one who can calm the storm, is bigger than the waves, and can turn any situation around.

Our Lord is always there when we need him; he can turn our world around and wants to. So the next time you encounter bitter waters. Turn to the one who can make them sweet and good to drink.

Thank you for joining me, and may your day be blessed! 🥰

Joseph is gone, and so are the memories of how he (an Israelite) saved Egypt from devastation and ruin. There’s a new Pharaoh on the throne, and he hates the Israelites and has reduced them to enslaved people.

The Israelites pray to their God for deliverance, and God hears their cries and turns to Moses for their Exodus.

Within Pharaohs, hatred for the Israelites came with hatred’s best friend, a cold heart.

Moses pleaded with Pharaoh on Gods’ behalf to let his people go! Pharaoh’s response was No!

Exodus 8:21-23 NCV “If you don’t let them go, I will send swarms of flies into your houses. The flies will be on you, your officers, and your people. The houses of Egypt will be full of flies, and they will be all over the ground too. But I will not treat the Israelites the same as the Egyptian people. There will not be any flies in the land of Goshen, where my people live. By this you will know that I, the Lord am in this land. I will treat my people differently from your people. This miracle will happen tomorrow

Exodus 9:4 NCV “But the Lord will treat Israel’s animals differently from the animals of Egypt. None of the animals that belonged to the Israelites will die.”

Exodus 9:26 NCV “The only place it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.”

Where are you living?

Egypt here represents pride, arrogance, power, authority, wealth, privilege, a disconnect, hatred, racism, and disbelief in God.

Israelites here represent oppression, servitude, daily hardships and struggles, heavy loads, big quotas and low pay, bondage, and debt. However, we see this group bending a knee to their God asking for his help! His deliverance!

I challenge you to reflect on your heart…has life and its many struggles left you with a heart of stone? Might you live behind a wall of success that you no longer see the hurting and broken living on the streets? The Israelites had to suffer some of the trials from Pharaoh’s lessons, such as we do in life, but when the significant hailstorms hit, do you sit and complain about your life, or do you turn your troubles over to God? Is it hailing in your Egypt, or do you have blue skies and sun in your Goshen!

Prayer produces results…Give God a try; I think you’ll be glad you did! Thank you for joining me today, and be blessed. 🥰

Ephesians 4:32 ESV “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Matthew 6:14-15ESV “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

I stumbled onto a group of pictures last night on Facebook, and a few of those pictures held a face within them of someone I haven’t seen or spoken to in 34 years. I was unprepared to see this face. I instantly felt the memories of the shattered heart, the embarrassment at my stupidity, and the pain of being treated so carelessly and callously.

Why did these pictures affect me so? I can tell you in four words: because I haven’t forgiven! I have moved on, and a lifetime has passed, but the anger at the disrespect remains, and that is something I need to address and work on!

First and only, forgiveness is for ourselves, our release of the emotions, and the damage release. Does it make the pain and memories go away, yes and no, the pain dulls and the memories subside. They no longer ride in the front seat of your mind and eventually, if left alone, end up in the trunk, basically forgotten.

Do we forgive if someone doesn’t seek forgiveness? Yes! We take our hurt feelings, offenses, and anger to God in prayer! We ask for his divine assistance in forgiving said offender and helping move forward in peace. Do we feel the forgiveness immediately? Of course not we are still human after all! But, I would suggest whenever the feelings surface to remind yourself that you are in the process of forgiving and will not entertain these thoughts.

If we forgive, do we have to like or be friends again with said person? No! Forgiveness is the act of freeing ourselves! Can forgiveness be the balm that heals an argument or disagreement, restoring peace within a relationship or friendship? Of course, that’s the best result of forgiving but once again; it doesn’t line us up to go back to a hurtful situation.

What if this person or group of people no longer matter enough to seek the Lord for forgiveness! I would have to suggest you examine your emotions, thoughts and feelings! What mood lands on your heart upon hearing a name, seeing a picture, driving past your last employer, stepping back in church or social club?

If it still drums up negative thoughts, hurtful emotions, anger, and discord, you haven’t forgiven and need to take it to the cross!

Guess, where I’m heading? 🤨

Be blessed today and thank you for joining me. 🥰

Do you ever wake up with a list that feels longer than you have time? Do you almost feel defeated before you even get started? Turn your day over to God, ask him to help you relax, prioritize and take one step at a time!

Good Morning Lord,

Thank you for watching over me as I slept last night, and I am thankful you are always with me.

Thank you for being with me as I opened my eyes and began my day!

Here’s where it starts to get more complex; my feet have hit the floor, which means my mind has kicked into drive and this morning overdrive!

It’s the first day of a new month; it’s Tuesday, the first Tuesday of a new month, separately they aren’t many, but for me, all three have significant time values attached to them.

Along with my significant Tuesdays is life. I have a husband, a home, laundry on a continual cycle, what to make for dinner, a trip to the grocery store, planning and preparations for Star (my first Tuesday of the month). I need to assist my husband with preparing training materials for our side business.

Lord, I’m confuuddlleedd…

I beg you for peace in my spirit, clarity of mind, and quiet within. Help me to take one step at a time, breathing as I go. One project at a time so I don’t go into a tailspin, getting grouchy and nonproductive, making me and everyone around me irritable.

Philippians 4:13 tells me that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” I thank you, Lord, for your strength as I tackle my day. I thank you for your kindness as I share my hectic day with others and your calm that fills me.

In your glorious name Lord Jesus I pray. Amen 🙏

So, If you have a crazy day, I suggest you ask the Lord for his assistance, change the plans, chore’s and responsibilities listed above to match yours, and spend the day walking beside our Creator.

Be blessed and thank you for joining me. 🥰

Esther 4:14 ESV “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your fathers house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom of such a time as this?”

Esther was a beautiful young Jewish maiden raised by her uncle Mordecai in the land of Persia. This event took place about 100 years after the Babylonian captivity.

Haman was the appointed principal minister of King Xerxes. At this time, all the king’s servants were required to bow down to Haman. Mordecai refused to bow to anyone but his God, causing Haman’s blood to boil.

Haman hated the Jews, and Mordecai just gave him ample reason to go to the king with a devised plan to destroy all the Jews within the kingdom.

In the meantime, at the king’s demand, a decree was issued, and many maidens were sent to the palace, placed into the care of eunuchs in the haram for twelve months of beauty treatments. The preparation must be completed before their presentation to the king. Esther was among the maidens and in God’s plan as she, out of hundreds, stood out and became the next Queen of Persia.

Mordecai gets wind of Haman’s plans, arranges a quick meeting with Esther at the palace gates, and lets her know the position in which God has placed her!

Now scripture shows us that Mordecai believed God would protect his people from Haman’s evil plan and warned Esther that if she didn’t fulfill her mission for the sake of her people, the palace walls wouldn’t protect her or hers!

I believe we as Christians are in the same precarious position as Queen Esther. Our country was founded on four words “In God We Trust” our forefathers were Godly men following Godly footstep’s based on his word and teachings. The Bible!

Where are they now? God is no longer welcome in our country, government, schools, and practices. He is no longer welcome to the holiday meant to celebrate his birth.

If we don’t speak up, share the truth, take a stand, what will happen to our and our father’s houses? We need to be the examples of love, kindness, faith, and hope. We need to get loud, louder, loudest!

The day will come when Jesus will appear in the sky, and all of his followers will go home! The trials and tribulations we suffer now are nothing compared to the end times. Heaven is real…Hell is real and many are going there! It’s our job to make sure we spread the message. The only way To God is Through his son Jesus Christ!

Dear Lord, I bow before you this morning, asking for your strength to open my mouth and boldly speak your truths. I am a sinner. I need you Lord Jesus in my life. I believe you are the son of God and was sent to save man from himself, please Lord Jesus save me and mine. I love you, I praise you, in your Holy name I pray. Amen 🙏

Thank you for joining me, and may your day be blessed! 🥰

Dear Lord of all Creation,

You are God, and who am I to be able to walk into your throne room, plop down and start talking. I marvel at that often; you created all, are Lord of all, and yet you are my best friend.

You know me better than I know myself and love me anyway, and for this, I am most thankful. You love me just as I am, but because of your love, you are constantly changing me, molding me, strengthening me to be soft.

I thank you for imparting your wisdom to me, guiding me, showing me, helping me to be the most I can be for myself, but you and your kingdom as well.

Thank you, Lord, for your examples. This gives us a template and steps to follow, helping us be good examples for those still lost and blind. Lord, I pray for eyes and ears to be opened to your teachings, sacrifice and love.

I hold up and pray for all your ministers who are gearing up to share your message this morning. I pray for clarity of mind, spirit, strength, and peace.

I thank you for the word I will hear this morning and help me always to be equipped to share you with others.

In your glorious name Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen

I hope for you a blessed day, a peaceful day! Thank you for joining me. 🥰